


In the Shadow of a Soul

by PadawanMaxineKenobi



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, Tags Are Hard, Tags May Change, This is fanfiction, so I can do what I WANT
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2019-09-29 09:22:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17200859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PadawanMaxineKenobi/pseuds/PadawanMaxineKenobi
Summary: Following the Snap, those who turned to dust wake to find themselves in the Soul World, along with some other familiar faces. While there, they discover they can return to the normal world... but only as ghosts, invisible to the living. Alliances must be made to return to their world and to stop Thanos. Meanwhile, the survivors of the Snap mourn their losses. And the Avengers renew their vow: If they can't defend the world, they'll sure as hell avenge it. Its an all-out war against Thanos to avenge their loved ones. And to return those lost to their sides.





	1. Prologue

_I’m sorry._ The voice said- his voice. His fingers lost feeling- like they had fallen asleep. The loss spread- until he could feel nothing at all.

Peter’s eyes shot open. He was staring at the sky- a bright, unpolluted sky- like what you would see in the country. Blue, with fluffy, white, slow-moving clouds. Slowly, Peter sat up and looked around. He was in a field of green and gold, surrounded by large, rolling hills. Wind rustled the leaves of the trees dotting the landscape.

_Where am I?_

Peter frowned, sat up, and ran a hand through his hair.

_And how did I get here?_

This was most definitely _not_ where he last was. He had been fighting Thanos with Mr. Stark, Dr. Strange, and those people who met Thor. They… they had practically been winning! And then there was that one guy who was also from earth… he got upset and there was a blue alien lady there. Mr. Stark had gotten really hurt, and then… what happened then? Dr. Strange… he…he gave Thanos the stone! Then Thanos was gone… and then that alien lady started disappearing. No, she turned to dust. Then all the other people he didn’t know did too, except that blue lady who showed up halfway through the fight. Then Dr. Strange got dusted too! And then- and then- he felt ill. His stomach felt like it was full of butterflies, and he felt lightheaded. Nauseous. Then it felt tingly. Everywhere. He… he walked toward Mr. Stark. He felt terrible and said as much. Then… he grabbed Mr. Stark. He was sobbing and telling Mr. Stark… something. He didn’t remember. Mr. Stark held him, told him something. He didn’t remember that either. He started losing feeling.

_I’m sorry…_

He… his head hurt. He looked up, trying to locate the sun, but it… wasn’t there. There weren’t any birds or planes or anything either, for that matter. The sky was a pale blue, that… seemed to be glowing? It was odd. And bright. Squinting, he raised a hand to block out some of that light.

His hand…

It…

Something was wrong. Something didn’t add up.

What was wrong with his hand?

He didn’t know. It felt wrong.

_I don’t feel so good…_

What?

He was fine. Right?

No. His hand. There was something wrong.

No there wasn’t. It looked fine. He could feel it was fine.

No he couldn’t. He lost feeling, remember?

Remember…

What wasn’t he remembering?

How did he get here?

_I’m sorry…_

A wind blew through the field, cause seeds to blow away like dust.

Dust…

Like those friends of Thor. Like Dr. Strange. Like…

He stared at his hand, breathing hard.

Like…

_I don’t want to go…_

_Mr. Stark?_

_It’s okay Kid_

Like...

_I don’t want to die…_

_I don’t feel so good…_

_You’re gonna be okay_

Like…

His hand shook.

_I’m sorry…_

Like him. He was dead.


	2. Realization

Chapter 1

Peter took a deep breath, hands in his hair, his head between his knees. Dead. He was dead. Was this heaven? Were his mom and dad and Uncle Ben here? If this was heaven, then where was everyone? He was alone. There was no one there. Now that he had calmed down a bit, he realized that he really couldn’t see any signs of people. Or animals. Peter took another deep breath, and leaned back, his hands clenching the grass, staring up at the empty, light, sky. Swallowing hard, Peter observed himself. He was wearing a white T-shirt, jeans, and a pair of sneakers. None of which were his, but still seemed to fit him perfectly. Welp, that was kind of creepy.

Peter laid back his eyes closed. He wished he had the suit. It might not define him, but he still felt better wearing it. Braver. Stronger. More like a hero, less like a random teenage mutant. Suddenly, there was a tingling on his arm.

_No._

_No, not again._

_Please, not again._

_Can I even die again?_

Peter lifted his arm and opened his eyes, terrified. Except he wasn’t turning to dust. The tingling was still there, spreading, but he wasn’t losing feeling. No, instead a familiar sleeve was appearing up his arm, the blue and red patterned outfit welcome in this otherwise unfamiliar place. Peter gaped as the Spiderman suit covered his body. He slowly stood up, marveling over the most recent turn of events. As he did so, he noticed that his mask fell off his lap. He carefully knelt down and picked it up, slipping it over his head with shaking hands.

“Karen?” He whimpered. There was no response.

“Karen?” He called again, feeling more panicked. The rest of the suits’ systems seemed to be working, but Karen wasn’t responding.

“Hey, Karen? Where are we? I need your help.”

“Karen?”

“Please answer.”

“I don’t want to be alone.”

“Karen, you’re scaring me.”

“ _Please_ Karen. _Please._ ”

Peter began to sob, his body trembling.

“K-karen? Where are you?”

“Please don’t leave me.”

“I don’t want to be left alone again.”

 

 

“Mister? Mister, please wake up.”

Peter blinked blearily. He must have fallen asleep while crying. Above him was an adolescent girl with light brown hair and dark eyes. She was shaking him, her face red and blotchy from crying. Peter groaned and sat up.

“Hey there.”

The girl let out a cry and threw her arms around him.

“Woah! Woah, hey. Hey, who are you?”

The girl sat back down and began wiping her face.

“Sorry.” She mumbled. “I was really scared. I was sitting in class when it felt like everything was falling asleep and then everyone started screaming and then I woke up here and I waited for my daddy cause he’s a superhero and he always saves me but he wasn’t coming so-so I got up and started looking for him but I couldn’t find anyone and then I saw you laying here and-and a kept trying to wake you up but you weren’t so I took off your mask and kept trying and then you woke up.” The girl said sniffling. Then she handed him his mask.

“Sorry I took it off.”

Peter accepted it and swallowed.

“It’s not a big deal. Can you tell me your name? I’m Peter.”

The girl straightened up and smiled.

“I’m Cassie Lang. I’m the daughter of Antman.”

 

* * *

 

 

Tony was shaking. Gone. Peter was gone. He had turned to dust, just like everyone else. Well, except that blue lady. Nebula, she said her name was. She had some interesting-looking cybernetics. He would’ve loved to look at them. Before. Now, he… he just didn’t know. They were going back to Earth. Nebula was piloting the starship. Which was good, because a.) he didn’t know how. And b.) he wasn’t sure if he could even if he did, his hands were shaking so bad. Tony rubbed his hand over the arc reactor in his chest. He was Tony Stark. He was a billionaire. A genius. A hero. He had saved New York City by flying an atomic bomb up an alien wormhole in space. But he couldn’t save one fifteen-year-old kid. One kid, who meant the world to him. Peter, Pepper, Rhodey, FRIDAY… They were all he had and loved. FRIDAY was still there. His suit may have been damaged, but she was there. Pepper and Rhodey had been on earth. Had they turned to dust too? Had the universe seen it fit to take all he loved from him?

“Oi.”

Tony looked up. It was Nebula. Of course it was. There wasn’t anyone else left.

“We’ll be on Terra in less than an hour.”

Tony swallowed hard.

“T-Terra? You mean Earth?”

“The rest of the galaxy calls it Terra.”

Tony looked up, plastering on a fake smile.

“Not true. First alien I ever met referred to it as Midgard.”

Nebula rolled her eyes.

“Whatever. You mess with weird people. Either way, you need to get yourself together if you want to defeat Thanos.”

“Defeat Thanos? He already won.”

“He killed my sister. Gamora. I’m not going to let him get away with it.” She stated, before turning away and walking back into the cockpit, the door closing behind her.

No. He wasn’t going to let Thanos get away with this. He was an avenger. That was what he did.

“I may not have been able to save you.” He whispered, “But I’ll sure as hell avenge you Kid. You can bet one of those churros on it.”


	3. AUTHORS NOTE

Hello! SO! as I am positive you are all aware, Endgame was released! awhile ago now (Although I have yet to see it or Captain Marvel) and I am positive that this story is now very much not canon-compliant so I want to know if there is still interest in this fic. If there is a notable amount of interest, I'll continue this! If not, well, this might get abandoned unless I feel like writing more on a whim. Please tell me what you want in the comments! Thanks!

-Maxine


	4. Plans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long! Fell out of the fandom for a little while. Hope you all enjoy! Please read and review!

Cassie, Peter decided, was one of the coolest middle schoolers he had ever met. She was smart, not genius-level, but smart, sassy, and very brave. She also really looked up to and admired her dad. She talked about him constantly. Not that he could blame her. If his dad was Antman, he would want to talk about it all the time too. Hell, it was a constant struggle to not talk about being Mr. Stark’s intern to protect his secret identity. And that was a cover.

“How old do you have to be to be a hero?” Cassie asked as they walked through some sort of forest. Peter pondered the question for a moment, then replied with the ever-so-clever phrase,

“I don’t know.”

Cassie pouted.

“Too bad. I wanna be a superhero and work with my dad, but he won’t let me. He only ever works with Hope.” The younger girl grinned mischievously, “I think they _like_ each other. I hope so. Hope would be a super cool stepmom. Especially since Mom’s got _Jim._ ”

Cassie rolled her eyes as she emphasized the name. Peter snickered.

“Not a fan?”

Cassie sighed, bouncing as she walked.

“It’s not that I dislike him, he’s just so _boring._ Especially compared to Dad.”

Peter laughed, the sound echoing through the forest.

“Hello?!”

Peter and Cassie both jumped at the voice.

“Is that someone else?” Cassie whispered. Peter shrugged.

“Probably. He responded, then cupped his hands around his mouth. “Hello!”

A young girl, somewhere between his own age and Cassie’s, walked out of the trees. She was holding a small child on her back, fast asleep. She burst into tears upon seeing them, walking the child up in the process. Peter rushed forward, steadying the girl.

“Hey, hey.” He soothed, “It’s okay. I’m Peter, that’s Cassie. Who are you?”

The teen sniffled.

“I’m Lila. This is my little brother, Nate. I haven’t seen anyone else. Do you know where we are? How we got here?”

Peter sighed, taking the little boy, Nate, off of Lila’s back, before sitting down. The two girls followed his lead.

“No idea where we are. How we got here… I’m not entirely sure, but I know it has to do with Thanos.”

Lila frowned.

“Thanos. My dad mentioned him once. Who is that?”

Peter and Cassie shared a look.

“Your dad?”

Lila shifted uncomfortably, pulling Nate on to her lap.

“He works- well, _worked_ with SHIELD.”

Peter relaxed and grinned.

“Cool! My parents did too. Before they died.”

Cassie frowned.

“Is having a tragic backstory a requirement for being a superhero or something?”

Peter turned to her and grinned.

“Duh.”

Lila stared, wide-eyed.

“You’re a superhero?”

Peter blushed, rubbing the back of his head.

“Yeah. It’s not really a secret at this point. You might know me as Spiderman.”

Cassie grinned and shot a hand into the air.

“My dad is Antman!”

Lila shifted, bit her lip, then looked up.

“We’re not supposed to tell anybody, but our dad is Hawkeye.”

“That’s so cool!” Peter gushed.

“Says the actual superhero to the children of superheroes” Lila commented sarcastically.

Peter rolled his eyes.

“Whatever.”

“We need to make a list.” Cassie announced.

“A list?” Lila asked. Cassie shrugged.

“Yeah. It’s something Dad always says to do when making a plan.”

“Works for me!” Peter said, grinning, “1. We need to figure out exactly where we are. 2. We need to figure out exactly how we got here. 3. We need to figure out how to go back home. 4. We need to go home. And 6. We need to kick Thanos’ ugly purple butt back to whatever pit it crawled out of.”

“7. Find our families.” Lila added. Peter nodded.

“I don’t think we’re really dead.” Cassie said, “This doesn’t look like heaven, or any sort of other afterlife I know of.”

“That’s true.” Peter agreed, now that he had actually thought about it, “Besides, I think dead people know that they’re dead. Otherwise they’d be ghosts. I’m pretty sure we’re no ghosts. This isn’t Earth though. Can we agree on that?”

“Yup.” Lila answered, adjusting her hold on her brother.

“Uh-huh.” Cassie nodded.

Peter stood up.

“We should try and find other people. Preferably someone who knows what’s going on.”

The girls shrugged, standing up. Motioning to Nate, Peter asked,

“Do you want me to carry him? He doesn’t look light and I have enhanced strength so it wouldn’t be a big deal.”

Lila shook her head, tightening her grip on her brother.

“No. I just want to hold him for now. I’ll make him walk later, but for now…”

Peter nodded in understanding. Nate was the only family Lila had with her; naturally she wouldn’t want to let go. If Aunt May were here he would never let go.

He pulled the mask over his face.

“I can’t connect to Karen- that’s my AI- but the mask can still help me scan for life forms. I’ll tell you if I see anyone else.”

 

 

As they approached Earth, Nebula opened the comms. Pointing to them, she ordered,

“Speak.”

Tony blinked tiredly.

“What?”

“Speak. We need assurance to not be blown out of the sky, and I need to know where to land.”

Tony swallowed and stepped towards the mic system.

“Right.” He muttered, “Right. Of course.”

He wiped his hands over his face and cleared his throat. He tapped the mic a couple of times.

“Testing… 1, 2, 3. Testing… 1, 2, 3. This is Tony Stark AKA Iron Man. Anyone reading me?”

It was completely silent.

“We have a connection. Someone is trying to make contact. I’ll follow the signal.” Nebula said, hands flying across the controls. A holographic map popped up. The kid would’ve liked that. It was just like Star Wars.

“It’s coming from here.” Nebula said, pointing. Tony frowned.

“Africa? What- Wakanda.”

He turned to Nebula.

“That’s where we need to go.”

He ran back towards the comm system, but all they were receiving was static. He tapped the mic again.

“This is Tony Stark. Wakanda, you reading me?”

“…Tony?”

His eyes went wide in recognition and relief. It was nice to know some old friends weren’t dead. He leaned towards the mic.

“Romanoff. I’m not sure I’ve ever been happier to hear your voice.”

“Shut it Stark and get over here. I’ll tell everyone else you actually made it.”

Her words were harsh, but the amount of relief in her tone said a lot. Natasha didn’t tend to show her feelings.

“See you soon.” He called.

“…Yeah. See you soon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review!


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